Case Open, Case Shut
by imtakingallyoudownwithme
Summary: Audrey is willing to do anything to prove herself in her first real case, but finds her paths crossed with Detective Mike Logan who is willing to make it as difficult for her as possible. Mike Logan/OC
1. Chapter 1

**This story is more of a trial as there doesn't seem to be a big L&O following on here, especially the older seasons. But that's okay, I'm writing more for my own kicks rather than for the attention. That being said, please review so I know if anyone is reading or not.**

**This is based around Season Five (1994)**

* * *

As soon as my phone rang in the middle of the night, I let out a very unattractive gurgle. In fact, almost instinctively, the gurgle came before I woke up. I heard it in my sleep.

I cleared my throat before answering the phone next to my bed, hoping to make my voice sound audible, and not like I just woke up. But then I checked the nightstand – 3:04AM. I didn't owe these assholes anything. Unless…

"Miss Bell, I apologise for interrupting your sleep at this late hour. However we just received a call from a potential client who wishes to use our services, and I believe this case should go to you." I heard my boss, Steve Hollis inform me.

I immediately sat up, shaking myself from any fatigue. I was finally getting another case, this was good!

"Of course Mr Hollis. I could be down at the precinct within forty-five minutes. Would that be suitable?" I asked my boss, clearing my throat to sound as professional as possible.

"Wow, you're fast. That will be fine Miss Bell; I'll fax you through the documentation we have now to the fax machine that we gave you upon your promotion. Good luck." My boss said upon hanging up.

I took no time in racing to my kitchen and putting the kettle on. Even though this was the city that never sleeps, the only place serving coffee on the way from here to the police station would be convenient stores. Instant coffee isn't great, but it's still better than the dirt they serve up at convenient stores.

Whilst the kettle was boiling I ran to my closet and pulled out my emergency suit.

After working a year at the small legal firm I'm currently employed at, I recently got promoted from assistant criminal defence lawyer to an actual defence lawyer. I'd only been given one case before because it was an easy one, and all I had to do was negotiate an appropriate plea bargain. A few cases had come up since, but my boss and the managers believed they were too hard for a newcomer.

So I had been on call until now, and had an emergency suit ready for all times at home should I not be at the office when I received a call. It was cleaned and ironed, and I took no time in throwing on the skirt, business shirt, suit and panty hose.

I sprayed on some deodorant and perfume under my suit, and made my way into the bathroom.

I didn't have enough time to make my hair look presentable down, so I grabbed the closest clip I could find and pinned my hair up. I left my bangs down on my face. I reached for my make-up bag and applied enough make-up to accentuate my features but to look natural and fresh.

I felt a little silly going all out at 3:30AM just to attend a police interview. But I needed to look as professional as possible, and whilst I'm sure the fun of dressing up would quickly wear out, I wanted to milk it for all it was worth.

I quickly poured my coffee into my flask, grabbed the papers from the fax machine provided to be from my work and flew out my apartment to go to my car.

* * *

I only had time to quickly flick through the few sheets of paper that were sent to me as I approached the station. I asked for my client, and the cop on watch house made me sign in and led me through a few hallways until we reached the door to a room.

"This is where the interview is being conducted." The officer said to me, and I smiled brightly and thanked him as I entered the room.

I tried to hide my nerves as I watched the scene carefully. I had been in these interviews before as an assistant defence lawyer, but I had never done it solo. I was quite nervous.

In front of me was a boy, who was barely eighteen. The body of his ex girlfriend had turned up after a few days of being missing, and he was apparently the last to have seen her alive, with a few witnesses saying they were arguing about something.

I then turned my attention onto the two detectives in the interview room who were both studying me intensely.

One was sitting next to my client, who was substantially older than the other one. He had hair that was beyond 'greying' and a few wrinkles etched onto his face. He had on a blue coloured suit, and had his hands entwined on the table in front of him.

The other one was a lot more intimidating. He was probably just over five years older than me. He had black hair that was a few inches short of being considered shaggy, but was not neat in any way. He had dark green eyes, and was wearing a dark suit with a red plaid tie. He was definitely more hostile than the other one, as he was standing in the corner with his arms crossed, shooting me a dark look.

"Good evening, or should I say good morning officers. My name is Audrey Bell and I'll be representing Peter Bristol. It's nice to meet you." I said, taking the seat next to my client and offering my hand to the older detective.

He took it, although he definitely took it begrudgingly as he had a sour look on his face and dropped my hand as soon as he could.

Before I could even turn my attention to the younger detective, he quickly took a seat next to me.

"Don't even think about it. Now that you're finally here, let's just get this interview underway." He sighed loudly, and I felt the nerves in my stomach rising again.

It was no secret that cops and lawyers weren't on the friendliest terms, so I swallowed the lump in my throat and began the interview with my client.

* * *

"Is there enough for an arrest or is my client free to go?" I asked the two detectives, after the interview was clearly over.

"I wouldn't call it free, but your client is allowed to leave for the time being." The older detective, detective Briscoe stated.

"Alright. Well we're going to be as accommodating as possible to your investigation in order to prove Peter's innocence. If you need anything, just call me. If I can't be a first point of contact, please at least contact me after Peter." I said to the detectives, handing Briscoe my business card, as I knew he was more likely to take my request seriously.

"We don't have to do anything." The younger detective, Detective Logan stated to me.

I took a deep breath, and contemplated whether I should stop being polite to them or not. Lawyers and cops are mortal enemies, but I have no problem with police and understand their frustrations with lawyers. I was trying to remain polite throughout the interview to keep things amicable. Briscoe noticed and although he kept a guard up he was less hostile towards me, but my pleasantness seemed to annoy Logan, and made him even ruder to me.

"I know you don't. You have procedures to follow, and I completely understand. I'm just requesting that I be contacted when needed so we can get things under wrap a lot more efficiently." I said to Logan, dropping my pleasant expression to use a firmer tone.

"Thank you Miss Bell, that will be all for today." Briscoe said to me quickly before Logan could make a rebuttal, opening up the door to the interview room, and I shook his hand and went to step out.

I took one last look at the two detectives, and noticed Logan glaring at me. I sent him a nasty look back, finally losing my patience with him.


	2. Chapter 2

I stumbled into work the next Monday morning, large coffee in hand as I muttered a low 'morning' to the receptionist before ignoring everyone in the office to make my way to my cubicle. The receptionist gave me a weird look, looking almost offended that I wasn't my cheery self, but the other defence lawyers understood.

My first call out was on Sunday morning at three am. As I was on a salary and not an hourly rate I still had to come into work this morning to do some paperwork and tie up some loose ends. I also had a meeting with the boss and the senior defence lawyer to discuss how my first call out went, and to evaluate everything. As the newest lawyers had the worst call outs, all my co-workers understood as they had been through the exact same. I even had a few pat my back and congratulate me.

I wasn't able to go back to sleep Sunday morning, too excited about my first case. Therefore although I did crash early last night, I was still behind on my sleep and I was exhausted.

Just as I turned my computer on and started building a file for this new client, my boss Steve called me into his office.

I gulped, picking up the notes I took in the interview and the paperwork before heading into my boss' office, with the senior defence lawyer standing behind him. I shut the door behind me, butterflies in my stomach.

I felt so silly being so nervous. I had received nothing but praise from these two, and I had done nothing wrong in my client's interview. The fact they weren't able to arrest him shows I was able to hold the fort on such short notice for the case.

Maybe it was a particular detective that made me nervous about the whole thing, as well as the fact this was the first time I was doing it solo.

"Firstly, how was your weekend Audrey?" Blake, the senior lawyer asked me.

"Not too bad, I guess. Went out for drinks Friday night, so I already had a quiet night in Saturday night, so the call out didn't ruin plans or anything." I weakly smiled, to show I wasn't too fussed with the call out.

"That's good. When I spoke to you, you said you would be forty-five minutes away from the precinct. Did you make the time limit? Of course no one blames you if you didn't, we usually give our lawyers sixty minutes if it's a late night call out, or if they have to travel a long way." My boss asked me.

"Actually, I made it in about thirty." I shrugged, trying to remain modest.

"That's great. So I see no arrest was made, that's great. I mean, the only evidence they have is circumstantial but it seems you managed both the interview and the client well enough to stop any silly arrests going ahead." Blake said to me.

"Pass me the paperwork please, I'll just quickly scan through it to finish off our evaluation." Steve the boss said, and I passed him the paperwork and notes I had taken.

I watched as Steve went through the paperwork and the notes I had made, with Blake looking over his shoulder. I saw he had paused on the page about the interview, which showed the time the interview commenced and ended, and who was present during the interview.

"FUCK!" Steve swore loudly, slamming the folder onto the table in front of me.

I jumped loudly, not expecting my boss to shout after calmly reading some files, as well as the profanity that was dropped out of nowhere with no explanation. Had I already made a fatal mistake with this case?

He passed the documents to Blake, who had a similar reaction, although he skipped the profanities and was much more mild in dropping his documents.

"Do you think we should take her off the case and replace her with someone more senior?" Blake asked Steve.

I bit my lip, trying not to show any more body language that showed annoyance. From the paperwork they had read it obviously appeared that they believed there was something there I couldn't handle on my own. Why give me a murder case if that's they believe this? I was going to lose another case just because I wasn't experienced enough, at this rate I'd never receive any experience.

"Audrey, how did you find the two detectives in the interview?" Steve asked me, ignoring Blake's question.

"Um, I'm not sure. In the other interviews I've been to where I shadowed another lawyer, the cops were never overly friendly but they were usually at least civil. Detective Briscoe warmed up a bit after I was polite, but that Logan guy is the rudest detective I've ever met." I remarked.

"See, we were hoping you wouldn't land those two. There's a lot of detectives in NYC and it's rotten luck out of every single one you wound up with that partnership." Steve explained to me.

"You see, Briscoe is a brilliant detective. He's been on the force for years and gathers evidence, both stories and physical evidence very well and very quickly, resulting in a faster arrest and faster court proceedings. Logan, as you pointed out is less than friendly towards lawyers, and most of the clients too. Whilst I'm sure it's his boring personality for the most part, it also intimidates both the lawyers and the client. Together, they make a pretty tough team." Blake, the senior defence lawyer informed me.

"I see. Well you're the bosses, you decide whether to keep me on the case or not." I flatly replied, trying my hardest not to sound like a sooky three year old, and kept my hands planted firmly on the other side of Steve's desk, instead of leaning back and crossing my arms.

"What we're trying to ask you Audrey is do you feel comfortable enough taking this case? We're more than happy to assign somebody else to it, or have you shadow this one like you did when you were an assistant. It's a bit unfair throwing you into the deep end this way, and no one would be angry if you stepped down. There'll always be more cases coming up for you to take on." My boss asked me.

"There will also be more brilliant and arsehole detectives in the force throughout my whole career. I'm not going to let these two spook me. Besides, it's the DA's office that's going to be the main thorn in my side should this case make it to court. The detectives are nothing." I responded.

"Good. I can't stress this enough, the number one tool in this profession is confidence. It seems like you have that down well. I'm sure you'll be fine." Blake said to me.

"Is there anything else you'd like to say?" Steve, the boss asked me.

"Um, nope. I guess I'll go back to finishing this file." I smiled, grabbing the documents off his desk and leaving his office.

I felt a lot better after that chat. Even though it may be a difficult case if an arrest is made, my two bosses believe I have the ability to do well. I even got praised. In the lawyer business praise is so rarely given as there is a belief that you won't work as hard should you receive praise and not criticism. But I knew I'd be fine in this case.


	3. Chapter 3

**This is a little short, sorry. I didn't want to start the interview until the next part. **

**So I kind of have a confession too. The law firm is based on my old company, as well as the way they treated the receptionists before me, myself (as the receptionist) and the way the receptionists are still treated to this day. It's not me inserting myself into the story, more writing about something I can empathise with. It's all relevant too, I swear. Meh, at least I didn't make myself the main character.**

* * *

A few days later I was sitting in the boardroom of the office where I worked. We were having lunch to celebrate the last day of one of our staff.

She was a woman a little older than me, and had been working for the firm for a couple of years. She was pregnant and today was her last day before taking time off, however instead of taking maternity leave she decided to throw in the towel at this firm. 'I've been a lawyer for a while now, and I'm not enjoying it. I'll stay in the legal business, but I don't wish to be a lawyer anymore' she told me. It made me a little freaked out; after all I was only just beginning my career. But people are different, and what some people enjoy others don't.

I gave a glum look to the receptionist, who was darting in and out of the boardroom to answer calls. She was a sweet girl, only nineteen years old. She had taken a year off university to work full time, as her dad was ill and could no longer work. Although she came from an upper middle class family, she still didn't want her sick father to have to support her financially. I felt sorry for the poor kid, everyone treated her horribly just because she was the lowest in the company and piled their work onto her. Then management would complain to her that she wasn't getting enough done, when she was doing the work of at least three people. I had also once stumbled across one of her payslips, she was on minimum wage.

But yet she still turned up to work brightly everyday with a smile, and cheerfully answered every call. I once overhead Steve the boss say she's saved the firm thousands of dollars through doing the work of more than one person, excellent phone manner that pulled in lots of high rolling clients, as well as saving his arse by easily rescheduling his double booked appointments. Then as soon as he finished telling me this, he walked up to her desk and screamed at her for not keeping the kitchen clean the previous night, even though we all knew it was the other offices in the building who used the kitchen after we all left at night.

After she had finished the phone call, she sat back down and gave me a weak smile, however the phone then started ringing again. She sighed, but before she got up I shot up and patted her on the shoulder. I tried to help her out as much as I could, but usually my own workload was humongous. I try whenever I can, and answering one call is something I could do.

"Good afternoon, Steven Hollis Lawyers. Audrey speaking." I answered, using my most professional tone as possible.

"Audrey? Is this Audrey Bell?" I heard a male voice ask.

"Yes it is, may I ask who's calling?" I answered.

"Um, it's me. Peter Bristol. You came to my interview late on Saturday night." The male informed me.

"Hi Peter, how are you going?" I asked, unsure of what else to say. Chances are that it's not good if he's calling the office, but there's no other way to address what the call is regarding without beating around the bush.

"Um, not too well. You see apparently the police have enough evidence to arrest me, and have arrested me. So yeah, calling you because I need you." Peter said to me, and I giggled a little at how forward he was, before quickly composing myself.

"27th precinct? I'll race down there now. Don't say a word until I get down there. No matter how much they try and stir you, at the beginning of the interview make a statement that you choose to remain silent until I get there. If they keep pressing only say 'no comment' do you understand me Peter?" I asked my client.

"I do Audrey. I'll see you soon." Peter informed me, and I slammed the phone down.

I took no hesitation into running into the boardroom, where all my co-workers were looking at me with worry.

"Peter Bristol has been arrested for the murder of Kerry Houston. I got to race down to the 27th precinct where he's being held. I'll see you all later." I breathed out loudly, where everybody yelled out a 'good luck' to me as I grabbed my coat and bag.

"Audrey wait! Before you go, if you get stuck on anything, don't panic. Excuse yourself for a moment and call Blake or myself. It's better to look a little slow than make a fatal mistake." Steve called out to me.

I nodded, before rushing out of the office building into the car park so I could jump into my car.

When I first started studying law I thought majority of my clients would be people of a low socio economic background when it came to criminal proceedings. What I failed to realise is that this is Manhattan, and you get people here from every walks of life. You don't need to be a certain person to commit a particular crime.

I drove this kid home early on Sunday morning after his interview. He was in community college studying engineering. He was quite polite, and he seems to have his life on track.

He told me the full story of why he's a suspect on the car ride home. I advised him against it. As sick as this makes me feel, it's not a lawyer's job to prove their clients innocence in most cases. It's our job to poke enough holes in the other party's stories to raise reasonable doubt. But Peter assured me he was innocent and I let him proceed.

His ex girlfriend had many mental issues. He was with her for four years, and in that time she did many crazy things. He wanted to leave her after the first few months, but she kept threatening to kill herself if he even hinted about breaking up. After a while his patience grew thin, and he made serious plans to leave her. She conveniently ended up accidentally pregnant, but apparently had a miscarriage a short time after.

Anyway, long story short. After his concerned family did some digging around, it turns out she never really was pregnant in the first place. His family and friends finally got him to leave her, and after a few court proceedings he managed to get a restraining order on her.

Which makes my job easier. Unfortunately there's lots of circumstantial evidence about why Peter may have killed her. But it doesn't make sense. Why would he kill someone he's gotten a restraining order against?

Hopefully that will be enough reasonable doubt for the jury when it comes down to that.


End file.
